Sudanese President Omar Bashir is rejecting calls to end the fighting along the country's north-south border.

Mr. Bashir said Friday his northern army would continue fighting armed groups in the volatile Southern Kordofan state.

South Sudan is set to officially separate from the north and declare independence July 9, but fighting has raged on in Southern Kordofan and other border areas, including the oil-rich region of Abyei.

The United Nations decries what officials have described as “utter devastation” along the border.

U.S. President Barack Obama last week called the situation in Southern Kordofan state “dire,” and the State Department has called for the violence to end so that humanitarian aid can get in.

Weeks of fighting in Southern Kordofan and neighboring Abyei have led to a mass exodus of people and raised fears of a new Sudanese civil war.

North and south Sudan fought a 21-year civil war that ended with a 2005 peace deal. South Sudan voted to split from the north in a referendum in January.